my east studio wall with the two new paintings i’m currently working on: 2021 creek oil 5 & 2021 creek oil 7
2021 creek oil 5 as it looks right now
2:48 PM: a painting can be a very fugitive thing. one scrape across the surface; one touch of red…cna make a big difference. once you do any of those things, you need to set it on the easel or hang it on the wall and step back ideally about 20-30 feet, depending on the size of the piece. furtive glances work best. that’s when you catch something that’s off. that’s when you hear it sing. that’s when you feel it transcend individual marks, colors, compositional elements, and gain an identity, have a presence.
is this a painting of a student working on her computer on the lobby floor? is it a painting of a water bottle? or none of the above?
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12:06 PM: the wind is howling and a storm is arriving tonight. but it usually dies down right about when we like to take our stupa walk: 3:45pm. so we’ll plan on that & see how it goes.
i did a first round of work on 2021 creek oil 5 a little while ago, and now i’m going back in, probably to soften some of those harsh greens, and whevever else my brush wants to go.
11:05 AM: after my morning shower & before getting dressed, i glanced at the night table, where a sketchbook lay, open to a blank page. i took one of the pencils on the night table and made a quick drawing of what i saw on the table. this may become a daily activity; a kind of warm up for my day in the studio.
i’m about to get to work on 2021 creek oil 5, picking up where i left off yesterday afternoon. i’ll post pics as they become available.
here’s what it looked like at the end of the day yesterday. that red box was bothering both of us, so getting rid of it may be the first thing i do.